New Years Eve is an excellent time to think about putting together a time capsule. You can gather special items and put them in a time capsule with the date on it. Then the next year on December 31st you can open it and spend some fun and enjoyable time looking at all the items.

Once you have done this for a year and then opened it up the next New Years Eve you may decide to do this every year as a family tradition, in which case you will only gather items for that year.

If, instead of doing this on an annual basis, you decide to put your time capsule away for a long time you will put many of the same items in, but they don’t just have to be pertinent to this calendar year.

Here are the basic rules:

• Gather items about yourself.

• You want some pictures of you doing some of the special things you did this year.

• Have a few pictures of your family and pet

• If you got some interesting mail or a birthday card from your grandma in Kalamazoo you will want to add that. Beside the nice card you will have the postage stamp to show what it cost to mail a letter. Many years ago it only cost a penny to post a letter!

• Did you do some art work that you are proud of, or a homework assignment? That goes in also.

• Did your friend send you a postcard from Disneyland? Or did you go there yourself and brought some post cards home - put them in!

• Did you learn how to fold an origami crane? That goes in.

• Did you learn how to tie some scout knots? Put some of them in the time capsule.

• Did something happen in the news this year that you would like to remember? Put the newspaper clipping in also.

Get a big mailing envelope and write the year on it and your name in big letters (you don’t want to lose this), or my favorite is to use a large green 2 liter bottle. Wash this bottle with soap and water and let it dry completely. Cut the bottom of the bottle off about three inches up from the bottom. Be sure the lid is on tight.

Load all your items in the top end- holding it upside down. Then put the bottom on and tape it in place with duct tape or strapping tape. There are lots of different colors of duct tape now if you don’t want to just use silver. Also use the duct tape to cut some numbers out to go up the side of the bottle to designate the year. Write your name on some of the tape going around the bottle.

You need a nice safe place to store this bottle for the next year so think carefully about where it will go and be safe. I like to use the top shelf in the bedroom closet, way in the back, where I would have to use a chair to reach it. Since I don’t like to haul the chair in very often I know it will be safe and untouched there.

At your house you may have a better place, just don’t forget where it is!